Finally, it all lines up for Lions and they draft an edge rusher in Derrick Moore

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If you know Holmes and the Lions, this was years in the making. The sort of moment that said everything while saying nothing. “I guess I followed your mock drafts,” Holmes quipped, breaking the silence and drawing a laugh from the room, after selecting Michigan’s Derrick Moore in the second round. In the selection of Moore, the Lions finally addressed a position that had been a major topic of conversation among those who follow this team. For years, the Lions have been linked to edge rushers in the draft — only to pivot when their preferred player wasn’t available and another ranked higher on their board. That sort of philosophy has served the Lions well more often than not, but it can leave you vulnerable to blind spots when you don’t have the sort of cap space to address the position meaningfully in free agency. But this year, the board aligned like stars in the night sky. Moore became the first edge rusher selected by the Lions on Day 1 or 2 of a draft since 2022. It continued a trend the Lions have demonstrated in this particular draft — targeting players who fit the public’s perception of their biggest needs. And while Holmes isn’t blind to outside opinions calling for moves specifically like this, he maintains that this was simply a year in which the draft board finally mirrored Detroit’s best players available. Moore, like Blake Miller before him, was no exception. “It really did line up, just because we’ve always said we’re just gonna pick the best player,” Holmes said. “I’m sure there were other tackles that were available or there were other edge rushers that were available, but these were the guys that we liked. When it blends together like that, it’s really nice. Couldn’t be happier, actually, just from today and yesterday. … I didn’t feel like it was any kind of reaching for positions or anything like that. I know that those were the popular positions and all that stuff that they were talking about for us, but they just happened to be players that we really like.” “(I’m) somebody who’s just really familiar with the area, pretty much grew in love with the area,” said Moore, a Baltimore native. “I’m just excited just to be back.” The Lions were a team with “financial restraints,” as Holmes called it last month, when free agency unfolded. They spent the bulk of their budget addressing the offensive line, which left little room for the sort of impact defensive talent that might appease a fan base growing impatient with the relatively modest additions. D.J. Wonnum was signed to a one-year deal to give the Lions a starting-caliber edge rusher capable of playing opposite of Aidan Hutchinson. Former first-round pick Payton Turner was added shortly thereafter — perhaps a flier more than anything at this stage. Potential returning edge options like Levi Onwuzurike (torn ACL) and Ahmed Hassanein (2025 sixth-round pick) could be viewed as questions in a room that needed more around its star player. That’s why, as the late 30s/early 40s rolled around Friday evening, you got the sense the Lions were coming up. The board played out in a way that gave them options — a bucket of potential pass rushers. It would only cost a fourth-rounder to move up, and the Lions had two of them. It was just a matter of finding a dance partner. So, they turned to an old friend. The New York Jets, coached by former Lions DC Aaron Glenn, picked up the phone and agreed to terms. The Lions would trade Nos. 50 and 128 in the fifth in exchange for No. 44 in the second. They had their pick of a few prospects in that range, but there was one edge rusher who ranked above the others when the day began, and he’s the one they ultimately landed. “We’ve been pretty clear about what the requirements are at that position for us, and he fits that,” Holmes said of Moore. “He’s a physical player that can set hard edges. His pass-rush greatly improved. … Been watching him for a long time. We’ve always felt the length and the physicality and the power in the pass, but didn’t really feel like his rush was quite there yet. But this year, he really got better. And then when he went down to Mobile at the Senior Bowl, he strung together a really good week rushing the passer. He’s another one that has a floor coming in, but he’s getting better and better and better. Just like I said with Blake Miller, I don’t see why that’s going to stop in this ecosystem. “Really, really excited because it’s hard to find guys — I’m not going to say we’re picky — but we just have a certain type that we like, and he fits those boxes.” The Lions do have a type, and they don’t exactly hide it. That’s why Moore was a player they had to get, perhaps knowing others were interested. The Lions jumped to No. 44 — one spot ahead of the Ravens and new coach Jesse Minter, who was Moore’s DC at Michigan. The Ravens took Missouri edge Zion Young one pick later, so it’s fair to wonder what info the Lions had. Holmes said he got the sense they were in the market for an edge. Was Moore that edge? Certainly possible. An unselfish, well-rounded player with a feel for what he’s doing; boasts a high floor. In Moore, the Lions are getting a prospect whose maturity as a player matches his maturity in the locker room. He’s a lead-by-example type, allowing his play to do the talking. He comes in a 6-foot-4, 255-pound frame with room to add more. His nearly 34-inch arms allow him to set a physical edge in the run game and deploy a nasty bull rush — his go-to move. In his final season at Michigan, Moore registered a pressure on 17.5 percent of his pass-rush snaps — No. 1 in the Big Ten, No. 17 in the FBS. He finished the season with a 36 percent win rate in true pass-rush situations, per PFF, which ranked 10th among edge players with 100 pass-rush reps. The biggest knock on Moore — that he has a higher floor than ceiling — wasn’t a deterrent for the Lions, a team clearly looking for ready-to-go talent in this draft. Moore’s game will fit in well in Detroit, as a plug-and-play rotational edge behind Hutchinson and Wonnum, and after a year on the job, the expectation for 2027 should be a starting gig. His combination of pass rush and effort in the run game makes him a fit. The school on his diploma doesn’t hurt, either. “LFG!!” Hutchinson, Moore’s new teammate and a fellow Wolverine, wrote on X. “Another Mich Man in the building.. love the pick.” “I feel like Detroit is my second home, really all of Michigan is like my second home. For a lot of people who don’t know my story really well, freshman year I moved my mom up to Michigan with me, so I really don’t have to go anywhere far. So it just makes everything good for me, and me and my mom are already comfortable and we just love Detroit and everything.” After two days of the NFL Draft, the Lions have addressed their two biggest needs with players who fit everything they’re about. You can argue the picks they went with and where they got them, but the Lions did well to fill in the gaps while getting their guys. “I did think about it when we were walking down,” Holmes said. “I was like, ‘Finally, I am going to the podium — it’s been, I don’t know, what, 2022 or something since we did it? Again, I probably sound like a broken record. It’s not something that we have been ignoring. It just has to line up. Like I’ve said in years past, the year before, the easiest thing is to draft a defensive end every single round, every single year. That’s very easy to do, but you want him to be a good player and produce. … That’s what the hope is for Derrick (Moore) and we feel good about it.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms